when to worry about clownfish?

[smdoty]

I have two clowns which have been busy establishing a pecking order for a couple weeks. One of them has grown larger and picks on the other one a bit, so I figure it is the female. The male looks a little banged up from the whole thing, but seems otherwise to be healthy and eats fine. I noticed a couple of days ago that the male stopped running away from her as much. I figured they must be close to pairing up.

Anyway, now the female has gone missing. I don't remember seeing her since yesterday morning and neither does my wife. She didn't come out to eat this afternoon, but I feed every day, so maybe she just wasn't hungry. I know she likes to sleep inside some of my live rock. Is there any chance she got stuck inside one somehow? Should I worry about her?

She was healthy the last time I saw her. My water quality is great and nothing has changed in the last few days other than my phosphates finally going away. If she had died for some reason would there be any remains or would the clean up crew have demolished them?

 

[Washburn82]

I dont know much about clown breeding but is it possible she is laying eggs? Also ive had 2 clowns fall victim to my clean up crew. 1 morning i woke up and my emerald crab alone had devoured 1/2 of it. So depending on how much CUC you have it could be possible they ate it all. Hope you find her.

 

[Zissou]

'Fall victim to your cuc' would imply that the cuc attacked and ate your fish, which is very unlikely. Odds are the fish succumbed to something else and the cuc were just doing their jobs. I think that is what you meant.

Anyway, check around your tank. It's unlikely she jumped but you never know, maybe it got chased out. Or check your overflow if you have a sump, check in the highest corners of your tank where you rarely look, etc. It's amazing where fish can disappear.

 

[Washburn82]

Yes. apologies zissou that is exactly what i meant. thank you for clarifying.

 

[smdoty]

My tank is a biocube, so its covered, I also have a divider that prevents fish from getting into the back chamber. I'm certain she could be hiding in my live rock as it is very porous and I have seen her sleeping inside it before. I thought it was weird that she didn't come out of hiding to eat today, though.

 

[little_fish]

Give her a few days, I have known fish to disappear for a week and then make a re-appearance.

 

[smdoty]

The missing clown has been found. Unfortunately, the news isn't good. I was able to get a better angle on some of my rock today and noticed her remains inside of one of them. My next question is, are clowns dumb enough to wedge themselves in a hole and not be able to get back out?

 

[smdoty]

Now I'm totally bummed out. Will it be really hard to get the male I have to pair with another clown? or would my best bet be to trade this one in at my LFS? He's still pretty small, but the change sexes pretty fast when they are by themselves right?

 

[little_fish]

He will pair with another clown, just get one that is much larger than he is in the next few weeks.

Also sometimes fish just dont make it, and we dont know why